Juxtaposing nature against the built environment, Leslie Bostrom’s works in Wildlife undermine the human/nature binary. Nature takes primacy in her paintings, foregrounded in urban landscapes with a vibrant slightly acidic color palette.

Bostrom paints flowers, birds, humans, dogs, trees, houses, highways, cars, airplanes and anything else that catches her attention. She compresses and plays with the space within and on the edges of the picture plain.

When starting a work, Bostrom first considers the paint; its thickness or thinness, color, brushstroke, blend and texture.  She first conceives of the work as an abstraction, as an example, “lots of color with a big black form.” 

As part of her working process, Bostrom makes small collages and watercolor studies to refine her ideas. When she has a direction that suggests an intriguing narrative, she starts the painting. If Bostrom needs more space than the canvas allows, she simply “adds on” another segment, usually pieces of plywood, to accommodate the text or imagery that the work requires.

In her quest to paint the most beautiful and provocative paintings she can, Leslie Bostrom tries to avoid clichés or deliberately planned narratives, and instead depends on a random amalgamation of objects and characters to create open-ended meanings. 

Anglim/Trimble